Windows Phone 8.1 Support Ends Today As Microsoft’s Smartphone Aspirations Crumble
If you are still rocking a Windows Phone 8.1 device (or older), the end of line is today for end-user support. Microsoft’s support website deems today — July 11th — as the finally day for supporting Windows Phone 8.1.
So, what does this mean for those that are still clinging to Windows Phone 8.1-based smartphones? Well, you will no longer receive product updates or the latest security patches for the mobile operating system. This comes just over three years after Windows Phone 8.1 was released to the public as a heavily-updated version of Windows Phone 8.
According to June analysis by AdDuplex, nearly 74 percent of smartphones with a version of Microsoft’s smartphone operating system installed are running Windows Phone 8.1. Another 4.2 percent are running Windows Phone 8 and 1.6 percent are running Windows Phone 7. Microsoft’s most current smartphone operating system, Windows 10 Mobile, has just a 20.3 percent share a year after its initial launch.
Users that are running Windows 10 Mobile have nothing to worry about at the moment with regards to support, as Microsoft is still plugging away at the also-ran operating system. The most recent news from the Windows 10 Mobile front was that Insider Preview Build 15228 was released to testers in late June. However, the build mainly addressed bugs and crashes that have plagued testers in previous builds.
Although Microsoft doesn’t appear to be ready to throw in the towel just yet on Windows 10 Mobile and smartphones in general, we can’t ignore the fact that Microsoft has less than 1 percent of the smartphone OS market, ceding its market share to Google’s Android and Apple’s iOS. Microsoft no longer sells its own Lumia smartphone via its online store, and the only other Windows 10 Mobile smartphones that it offers are the Acer Liquid M330, Acer Liquid Jade Primo, Alcatel IODL 4S and the HP Elite x3.
As it stands currently, it appears that Microsoft is more interested in spreading its apps and services to iOS and Android while Windows 10 Mobile’s ecosystem remains on life support.
(Image Courtesy: Bhupinder Nayyar/flickr)
